This invention relates to obtaining information about radiation sources.
My U.S. Pat. No. 4,090,080 (hereby incorporated by reference) describes a device useful for mapping a nearby source ("near field") of radiation, e.g., a gamma ray emitting radioisotope located in a patient undergoing a medical procedure. A collimator having slits defined by pairs of parallel, radiation absorbing sheets, is rotated about its axis, and detectors are arranged to measure the radiation passing through each slit in each of many angular positions of the collimator. Simultaneous equations are then solved, applying known computer techniques, to generate the desired map.
As is mentioned in said patent, honeycomb-like channel collimators have also been used for such mapping; a single picture is taken with the collimator stationary, each channel viewing a different portion of the source. Channel collimators have also been used in x-ray astronomy, where the source is so distant ("far field") that all channels receive the same radiation flux; the collimator is mounted to pivot about orthogonal axes in a raster scan pattern.
In my pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 921,200, filed July 8, 1978 to be issued as U.S. Pat. No. 4,205,228 (hereby incorporated by reference) there is described a far field imaging device. A collimator is rotated about its own axis while that axis moves about a fixed axis pointing toward the overall field of view of the collimator. Radiation from the source is transmitted through the collimator during each of its revolutions about its axis. The position of the collimator relative to its axis, and the angular position of the collimator axis relative to the fixed axis, at the time of each such transmission, define a response plane. Computerized data reduction is used to find the intersection of the response planes, which will be a line pointing precisely at the source. For multiple sources, there are a corresponding number of intersections.
In my pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 961,671, filed Nov. 17, 1978 (hereby incorporated by reference), there is disclosed another far field imaging device. The collimator has a multiplicity of portions, the transmissivities of the portions to radiation reaching the collimator from a given source being different from portion to portion for a given orientation of the collimator; these transmissivities are varied over time, and radiation passing through each portion is detected for successive values of its transmissivity. In the disclosed embodiment the collimator has slits defined by radiation absorbing sheets which lie along planes intersecting in a common focal line, and the transmissivities of the slits are varied over time by rotating the collimator about an axis pointing toward its field of view and perpendicular to the focal line.
The above systems have in common, in their preferred embodiments, movement of a slit collimator through a succession of different positions relative to the source, measuring the radiation passing through the collimator in its successive positions, and processing of the data from the succession of measurements to gain information about the source.